French President Emmanuel Macron Goes to the 2022 Paris Auto Show
This writing about the 2022 Paris Auto Show and France’s role in the Electric Vehicle (EV) marketplace essentially is an extension of another in-depth report I wrote about Industrial Policies Around Electric Vehicles (EVs) Promote New Ideals On E-Mobility. I strongly recommed you read it if you want to expand your knowledge on EVs with insights about electric mobility (E-mobility) trends.
Otherwise, have a look at the 2022 Paris Auto Show below:
Significantly, during the time in which the 2022 Paris Auto Show was held there was a deal made by a French lithium miner, Imerys, to develop a new mine located in Beauvoir, France. This mining project aims to make France one of the European Union’s (EU) top lithium suppliers under the backdrop of increasingly higher demand for EU domestic production of EVs.
The significance of this announcement comes during a time of higher geopolitical tensions with China and Russia over global commodities, raw materials supply chains and the effects from sanctions on industrial policies during the conflict in Ukraine.
On 24 October 2022, an announcement was made by the CEO of Imerys, Alessandro Dazza, to officially launch the “Exploitation de Mica LIthinifère par Imerys” (EMILI) which is a project concering the production standards for the Beauvoir lithium mine. According to the press release, the company intends to mine 34,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide per year, until 2028, of which the production target of around 700,000 EVs per year would be possible.
According to Imerys CEO Alessandro Dazza, sustainble production at the Beavoir mine is key to the project’s success. For instance, he declared during the EMILI launch session that: “Forts de notre expertise en matière d’extraction et de transformation des minéraux, de notre excellence opérationnelle, et de notre capacité à le faire de manière responsable et durable, nous développerons ici, à Beauvoir, un des plus principaux projets européens de valorisation du lithium”. See my own English translation below:
This is my own translation of the above statement from CEO Alessandro Dazza: In light of our in-depth expertise in minerals extraction and minerals processing; operations effectiveness; and our capacity to work in a responsbile and sustainble way, the company will develop here at Beauvoir, one of the main European projects for the recovery of lithium.
Reuters reported on the day of the announcement that the French government already has plans to make mining of lithium and other critical metals an important part of the country’s strategy to develop its economy, such as the recycling scheme put forth by another French mining company called Eramet, with mining projects in Argentina, that is supposed to receive funds of 100 million euros.
The French news agency Sud Ouest reported that the EMILI project at the Beauvoir mine was critical for decreasing dependence on China’s lithium suppliers for the European EV marketplace. While also benefiting French domestically by providing up to 1,000 new jobs in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes areas of France.
On 28 October 2022, the European Union’s (EU) European Council and European Parliament passed an agreement to cut down on the sale of new diesel and gasoline vehicles by 2035, as part of the “zero-emission road mobility by 2035” plan. The plan seeks to cut CO2 emissions from new diesel and gasoline vehicles by 100% compared with 2021 levels. This would effectively put a ban on new production and sales of diesel and gasoline vehicles that would reach such levels of CO2 emissions.
There are other regulations and exemptions in place to protect smaller automakers in the EU, though the agreement signaled a big win for large campaigning groups, such as Brussels-based Transport & Environment, who have been working toward a nations-wide ban on fossil-fuel vehicles in the EU.
According to Euronews, the deal to phase out diesel and gasoline vehicles by 2035 was made under the Fit for 55 framework to reduce green house gas (GHG) emissions by 55% by 2030.
After the deal was announced, many of the legislation’s biggest supporters within the EU establishment celebrated online with their own comments and praise.
Jan Huitema, a Dutch MEP, said:
“With these targets, we create clarity for the car industry and stimulate innovation and investments for car manufacturers. In addition, purchasing and driving zero-emission cars will become cheaper for consumers.”
Josef Síkela, minister of trade and industry of the Czech Republic, said:
“The world is changing, and we must remain at the forefront of innovation. I believe we can take advantage of this technological transition. The envisaged timeline also makes the goals achievable for car manufacturers.”
However, the most notable player in this scenario is the L’Association des constructeurs européens d’automobiles (ACEA) European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA)
The ACEA has been striving to get more producers and suppliers on the right path towad reducing GHG emissions throughout their supply chains, by investing in more renewable sources of energy production that promote the concept of “climate-neutral road transport.” The association has called on transport manufacturers operators, particularly for heavy trucks (trucking), to embrace the future of Zero-Emission Trucks (#ZeroEmissionTrucks).
To follow through from the impact of these legislation proposals will require deeper investments in EV Charging Networks, Raw Materials and Battery Supply Chains. I already wrote extensively about these issues and how they pertain to industrial policies around e-mobility for the future.
The uncertainties caused by geopolitical trends are manifested between the EU’s industrial policies and Russia’s Arctic Strategy. It points to this conclusion: the future of global economic development is going to depend heavily on the effective production and supply of global commodities around the world, during increased geopolitical tensions over sovereignty.
On the other hand, one of the biggest industrial trends for global mining projects is related to Environment, Social, Governance (ESG) frameworks.
The aspects of producer economy areas and indigenous groups’ issues play a big role in this phenomenon — and rightly so in my view. These trends are part of the much larger geopolitical trends that have been kickstarted by the global COVID-19 pandemic. The global pandemic has caused several countries to unravel, with socio-political instability that was building up for decades, and causing the global economy to be shaken up with uncertainties, putting the world’s largest companies in some of the most vulnerable areas.
Many of these mining projects, especially the ones for copper and nickel, are critical to achieving both the Energy Transition, most notably for renewable energy installations and Electric Vehicles (EV) production rollout.
The world’s largest metal miner BHP group plans to source and produce metals while taking a more sustainable and environmental focus on their operations globally. There are basically three main commodities in this future facing commodities space: copper, nickel and potash. The former two are both metals directly related to metal mining and stainless steel production, while the latter is primarily used as a source of fertilizer.
It’s true that BHP has been divesting its oil and gas assets for “future facing commodities” such as copper, nickel and potash.
The concept of future facing commodities is still new to many people. It has already become synonomous in global business news with “tougher jurisdictions” that are associated with vulnerable areas of political control and regulatory corruption.
This implies that that the company will have to venture out to new areas — i.e. “tougher jurisdictions” — containing the high-grade copper, nickel and potash production capabilities desired for such results. CEO Mike Henry also announced at the FT Mining Summit in 2021 that BHP Group wants half of its revenues to come from the production and exports of these future facing commodities by 2030.
I argue that these issues about future facing commodities and global mining projects, as well as how indigenous groups and governments are responding to the Global Commodity Supercycle, are defined by a new paradigm shift: The aspects of producer economies, the areas where they operate and the indigenous groups’ issues that are specific to their communities, all of which are at the nexus of commodities and geopolitics in the future.
Whether or not we can overcome our pre-conceived ideas about energy and commodities is going to be a key problem facing the world. We need to get more serious about Climate Change, but also look at how the world’s most valuable commodities are going to be needed and secured in the future — hence, the critical nature of the future facing commodities.
Read more content about the future of core areas and critical producers of the global economy in the publication Areas & Producers.
